The following is a previously unpublished piece on one of my favorite ’50s screen monsters…
Revenge of the Creature (1955) is a fun favorite from childhood, but occasionally I see misinformation printed about the film, specifically in regards to stuntman Ricou Browning. To wit: Browning did the underwater stunts only in all three Creature flicks. He was of average height but a graceful swimmer. But lanky Ben Chapman wore the suit (actually a more finely detailed costume for close-ups, and darker in color) in all the above-water shots and everything on land in Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954).
An imposing six-foot-five Tom Hennesy enacted the Gill-Man on land in Revenge, did a handful of submerged cuts, and even managed to play one of the lab technicians at Marineland! The rumor has circulated for years that Clint Eastwood also donned the suit in a pinch for a shot or two, but Clint denies it vehemently. Also, beefy– too beefy– Don Megowan was the lumbering “revamped” amphibian in the poorly executed Creature Walks Among Us (1956), which needlessly finished off the series.
Revenge was not Universal’s attempt to revitalize the 3-D craze. Henry Frankenstein couldn’t accomplish that task. In truth, 3-D loomed large for barely nine months, from mid-’53 through mid-’54, and even Variety officially announced its demise in bold headlines before 1955, as Revenge and numerous other projects were still in production. Revenge played only a few bookings in stereo-vision, to honor contracts in either the “Universal 3-D” format, meaning two prints and dual, sync projectors, curved lenticular (ribboned) screen– or the “3-D HorrorScope” method called “Pola-Lite” wherein both frame images were printed vertically, side-by-side, on a single film strip utilizing one projector with a split-beam prism. Like Dial M For Murder and numerous others, Revenge played out the theatres “flat” as they say in the industry. And by that time most theatres favored the “Pola-Lite” system over renting or buying expensive equipment.
That’s probably more information than I intended, but I do get tired of people who are in the position to inform the public and they barely know the facts themselves. It’s particularly irksome when it was someone like a Gene Siskel, who was paid royally and didn’t have a clue. When I wrote about these films when I operated the LaSalle Bank Theatre, I didn’t rely on memory alone. It was all research– and consulting others who knew the industry. So I’ve tried to continue that practice with the Pickwick Theatre Classic Film Series.
~MCH